DOT

Failing infrastructure is a life and death matter. Decaying roads, bridges, dam, pipelines, water delivery, and railroads lacking safety controls are responsible for the loss of thousands of lives annually, on top of illnesses and injuries.

The 105-year old Hudson River Rail Tunnels may desperately need replacement, but the Federal Railroad Administration also has an eye on the future, awarding $27.8 million to prepare a maglev application between Washington and Baltimore.

A three-week extension of federal transportation spending and three-year extension for railroads to install positive train control was signed on Oct. 29, the date the current highway extension expired.

Agreement has been reached by Congress to extend the vital but costly safety system said to prevent many train crashes. Had it not been reached, freight railroads warned they would shut down, as would passenger rail lines running on their tracks.

Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx unveiled a $42 million transportation program in Manhattan that is part of President Obama's new $160 million Smart Cities Initiative. Funds will go to NYC, Tampa, and Wyoming to reduce congestion and crashes.

Surprise! A three-month transportation funding bill turns out to have funds for nine months! While unanticipated funds certainly sound like good news, it also takes immediate pressure off the House to working on a six-year reauthorization bill.

This vehicle would be larger than a Hummer, a bus, and even an 18-wheeler. Then again, it would not travel on land. The proposal goes by an appropriate acronym: SF-BREEZE. Think fresh air over the bay.

A May 1 Federal Railroad Administration rule on moving crude by rail was supposed to make routing information more accessible to the the public, but due to lobbying by the rail industry, it will do just the opposite.

In addition to record travel this Memorial Day, the U.S. DOT reports that March broke the record for the most vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Gas prices, though rising since late March, are predicted to drop and remain low through the end of 2015.

Critics warned that a Department of Transportation rule allowing up to 10 years to phase out existing oil tank cars would result in more explosions. The rule was issued on May 1; an explosion occurred May 6.

Following up on last month's emergency rule addressing trains speeds, the Transportation Department issued new rules addressing tanker car standards, long thought to be one of the most important factors contributing to fiery oil tank car explosions.

The emergency rules issued by DOT, including lowering oil-train speeds to 40 mph in urban areas, go into effect on April 20. They are in addition to rules expected to be released May 12 that address oil tanker car construction.

Congress just got one or two months of extra breathing room to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent. Heretofore the patch bill was said to exhaust its funding on May 31, but the new word from Transportation Secretary Foxx is that it will be later.

The new oil tank cars were supposed to be key to preventing the fiery explosions associated with oil-train derailments. However, four recent explosions since Feb. 14, with two occurring last Thursday and Saturday, all involved the new tankers.

The Wall Street Journal's senior energy reporter, Russell Gold, is interviewed on NPR about the February 16 derailment and explosion in West Virginia of an oil-train hauling 109 tanker cars of Bakken crude from North Dakota.

Peak VMT reportedly occurred in 2007, but that may not stand long according to updated DOT estimates of 2013 travel. According to the data, Americans drove nearly three trillion miles. Another finding is the large increase in number of vehicles.

So long 2007. Hello 2014. According to new DOT data, peak driving is no longer in the rear view mirror but ahead of us thanks to cheap gas getting even cheaper, the rebound effect, an improved economy, and warmer weather.

Apparently some in Florida were uncomfortable with the much touted "privately funded railroad" using a $1.6 billion Federal Railroad Administration loan, so All Aboard Florida applied for tax exempt bonds to supplement or replace the loan.

Safety would win hands down for passenger rail, but for-profit railroads have a bottom line to consider. Regulators have proposed reduced train speeds, opposed by railroads, to prevent fiery derailments that have resulted from shipping shale oil.

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